On her radio program today, American Family Association government affairs director Sandy Rios fumed about Thad Cochran’s victory over Chris McDaniel in Mississippi’s runoff primary election, which she blamed on John McCain.

According to Rios, McCain embarked on a campaign — “and I know about this for personal reasons” — to “purge the Republican Party of conservative candidates” and “turn the Republican Party blue” following the 2008 election.

“He decided that Mark Kirk was his first pick,” Rios said.“Many of us in Illinois at the time, conservatives, knew that this was going to be a disaster.”

After reviewing severalcontroversies that emerged during Kirk’s U.S. Senate campaign that she said showed he “was not an honest person,” Rios said that “we also knew that he was a closet homosexual.”

It’s not good enough for Congressman Mark Kirk to claim his “outing” “demeans the political process.” He should answer the following questions and Republicans and press must follow through to confirm or deny his answers:

1) Are you gay?

2) Have you been living with another homosexual Congressman?

3) Were you sued by another male staffer in John Porter’s office for sexual harassment?

…

Congressman Mark Kirk, please answer these questions. Republican leadership, if you are covering up things the public should know, stop or you will lose even more credibility with your base. And press? Do your job. Your duty is not to defend a lifestyle; it is to report the truth.

From letters to alerts and more, the entire PFAW family has been working on ENDA. We still need your help. Please keep calling the Senate as this week's debate continues. There are more instructions here and here, and you can always reach both of your senators by dialing 202-224-3121. Don’t forget to sign our petition.
The time is now – say yes to common sense and no to anti-gay extremists – pass ENDA!

This critical piece of anti-discrimination legislation would make it illegal to make employment decisions – hiring, firing, promotion, or compensation – based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

National Organization for Marriage president Brian Brown is convinced that marriage equality advocates, who just helped pass laws legalizing same-sex marriage in Delaware and Rhode Island, will go down in defeat since they are opposed to “the will of the majority of Americans” and solely rely on the support of “our cultural elite.”

Speaking with Janet Mefferd yesterday, Brown argued that Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Mark Kirk (R-IL), who both support marriage equality, will lose their re-election races in 2016 over the marriage issue…if they even opt to run again.

Brown: If the Republican Party were to change its platform, that would be the death knell for the Republican Party. Right now the Democratic Party has changed its platform, has wholeheartedly embraced the redefinition of marriage. The Republican Party right now gives voters — and again, the majority of voters who have been able to vote on this issue have voted to protect marriage in this country — it gives those voters a party that at this point stands up for traditional marriage. We need to be encouraging Republican lawmakers to be speaking out more on the importance of marriage, not attempting to imitate the Democratic Party in embracing the redefinition of marriage.

Mefferd: Very, very well said. You’re seeing people like Rob Portman and Mark Kirk come out as Republicans backing now homosexual so-called marriage. What do you think the response needs to be from the voters, working very hard to get them out of office? Brown: They need to be primaried, period. I think that folks in Ohio, if Rob Portman decides to run again, he will be primaried, he may not run again because there’s been such a backlash in his state, and I think the same is true of Mark Kirk.

As you can imagine, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality head Peter LaBarbera is none too happy with TIME’s cover story on the success of marriage equality advocates, telling the American Family Association’s news service yesterday that the magazine is “publishing indecent photos” and “promoting perversion.” After lamenting that children might see the magazine covers of same-sex couples kissing, he went on to blast his home state senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) for “pushing homosexuality in the Republican Party” by endorsing marriage equality.

But Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) is "upset" by how the magazine is jumping the gun.

"This is shocking that TIME magazine would do this -- basically publishing indecent photos, promoting perversion on the cover of their magazine, where on racks across the country children can see this," he laments. "This is an in-your-face promotion of homosexual immorality, and I'm very upset that they would go to this length."

And LaBarbera is especially dismayed that the order to print the photos came from the top.

"The managing editor of TIME, Richard Stengel, said the images published by TIME were -- quote -- 'beautiful and symbolized the love that is at the heart of the idea of marriage' -- unquote," the AFTAH president reports. "How can you be more confused? Two people of the same sex kissing symbolizes the love of marriage?" Marriage has historically been between a man and a woman, and he asserts that media moguls cannot change that.

LaBarbera adds that the media and the far left are confused, and he submits that the article and cover photos are a sellout to the homosexual lobby, as corporate America supports TIME through its advertising dollars.

…

"He was always liberal on social issues, and he was a favorite of the so-called moderates in the Republican Party," the AFTAH president notes. "But I certainly didn't expect that he would capitulate this fast. This very simplistic explanation by Senator Kirk fits a man who really ... never treated the social issues seriously."

While Kirk's decision is not a surprise, LaBarbera points out that it will still benefit the pro-homosexual forces.

"The sad thing about this is it gives fuel to the left's 'inevitability' claim," he offers. "The left and the media are promoting homosexual marriage like never before -- they're saying it's unstoppable; it's inevitable. Of course that's not true; nothing's inevitable. But they're really pushing homosexuality in the Republican Party. Senator Kirk's defection on this issue only helps the left."

Today, in a 63-33 vote, the Senate broke a filibuster of the nomination of John McConnell to serve as a district court judge in Rhode Island. The attempted obstruction of a district court nominee was a top priority for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which spent enormous lobbying resources on sinking McConnell’s nomination. The Chamber objected to McConnell’s work as a public interest lawyer in Rhode Island, where he took on lead paint manufacturers and tobacco companies on behalf of consumers.